Northwest to welcome visiting artist Chintia Kirana Feb. 17

The Northwest Missouri State University Department of Fine and Performing Arts will host an exhibition by Indonesian-American multidisciplinary artist Chintia Kirana Feb. 17 through March 27.

The lecture begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, in the Charles Johnson Theater at the Olive DeLuce Fine Arts Building. The lecture will be followed by a reception and the exhibition opening in the Olive DeLuce Gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

“Chintia is an Indonesian refugee who has become an important artist, arts activist and arts advocate,” Dr. Michael Faris, a Northwest assistant professor of art, said. “She maintains a working studio for her practice in Montgomery, Alabama. She helped to start both Expose Art Magazine and the non-profit organization Expose Art. She has also worked to maintain the Expose Art House, which is a gallery for art exhibits. She is a very important figure in the art world.”

Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, Kirana was captivated by the art world at early age. Due to a political uprising in 1999, she and her family left Indonesia and immigrated to the United States. The move granted her an opportunity to obtain formal art training and ultimately turn her childhood passion into a lifelong vocation. Her childhood obsession of collecting and her fascination with time are well-manifested into her sensible studio practice.

Kirana holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from Southern Illinois University. She co-founded Expose Art Magazine, a global contemporary art publication serving more than 10,000 art enthusiasts worldwide.

She founded Expose Art House – an alternative art space offering residencies, exhibitions, artist talks and workshops in Montgomery – and a nonprofit arts organization called Expose Art. Her primary mission through these artistic initiatives is to create an all-inclusive forum for creative minds to openly share their diverse, unique views on the role of art in the realm of cultural, political and philosophical injustices.

Through the span of a decade, Kirana’s work has been featured at a multitude of solo, group and juried exhibitions across the United States and abroad in venues such as the Whitney Museum of American Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Dhaka National Museum of Art, Sienna Art Academy, Zhou B Art Center and ISE Cultural Foundation.

Kirana’s lecture and exhibit are sponsored by Northwest’s Department of Fine and Performing Arts and the College of Arts and Sciences as well as the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information about the DeLuce Gallery and upcoming exhibits, visit www.nwmissouri.edu/finearts/deluce/ or contact the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at 660.562.1326.